As part of an ongoing antitrust trial against Google, Apple has been defending its decision to make Google the default search engine in its Safari web browser. Now, a fascinating tidbit has just emerged: Safari could have been way better at protecting your privacy than it actually is.
In transcripts from the court hearing, it has been revealed that Apple considered making DuckDuckGo the default search engine in Safari’s private browsing mode while keeping Google as the mainstay everywhere else. Despite holding 20 meetings with DuckDuckGo’s executives between 2018 and 2019, Apple ultimately decided against the move.
It’s an interesting revelation because DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine whose entire raison d’être is essentially to be the opposite of Google. DuckDuckGo makes a point of automatically blocking things like trackers and user fingerprinting, making for a much more private experience than you get with Google, Bing, and other mainstream engines.
That seems like it would be a great fit for Apple, a company whose unofficial slogan seems to be “privacy is a human right.” Yet in the end, Apple decided to stick with Google.
According to the court testimony, Apple’s search chief John Giannandrea claimed that because DuckDuckGo relies on Bing for its search results (an engine Apple apparently considered buying), it probably also sends some user data to Microsoft, meaning its “marketing about privacy is somewhat incongruent with the details.”
Despite those concerns over the sharing of user data, Apple opted to continue to use Google, a company whose data-gathering policies are both well-known and widespread. Given Apple’s frequent habit of promoting its devices’ privacy-protecting features, that may look like a strange decision.
Yet as testimony in the ongoing trial has claimed, Apple has a very profitable arrangement with Google, with the search giant reportedly paying Apple at least $8 billion a year to remain the default Safari search engine. Apple’s services head Eddy Cue has also testified that Apple stuck with Google because it felt it was the best option available.
Regardless, you can still change your default search engine in Safari (and many of the other leading browsers) if you want more privacy protection than Google offers.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.